One way to address the question, “What do people think about museums?” is to look at cultural references to museums. Museum professionals often make note of references to museums in movies. For those who want to pursue that line of thought, here is Huffington Post’s list of “10 of the most memorable museum scenes in film.” In theseContinue reading “What do people think about museums?”
Author Archives: Rebecca Shulman
When is art viewing a spiritual activity?
About a year ago, while teaching art history at Bradley University, I committed to giving a talk about the spiritual in modern and contemporary art. That talk is fast approaching, and has been leading me to think not only about artists who embrace a spiritual purpose for their art, but about where the spiritual isContinue reading “When is art viewing a spiritual activity?”
Why do we need “classroom management” in museums?
At the end of this post there is a link to this survey. Please help me more deeply consider the question of classroom management by completing and sharing the survey! A few months ago, I was tagged in a tweet asking whether I knew of any good resources for classroom management in the museum setting.Continue reading “Why do we need “classroom management” in museums?”
What is an ethical museum?
In early December, I wrote a post considering whether and how museums should respond to the grand jury verdicts in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island, New York. My response was, and remains, that before they can respond to moments of political crisis, museums must create intentionally ethical and self-critical ways of operating. A few weeks afterContinue reading “What is an ethical museum?”
Schools and Museums: Three Experiments
When I started the Schools and Museums series I was working as a consultant, and wished that there were a museum in which I had the freedom to experiment with some of the ideas shared by contributors. Now I have just such an opportunity – at the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum – which (like many opportunities)Continue reading “Schools and Museums: Three Experiments”
Why are children’s museums museums?
In graduate school in the Museum Education Program at George Washington University (admittedly more years ago than I should admit to), the first semester was dedicated primarily to the idea of object-based learning. How does one teach with objects? How do you select objects for a tour investigating a larger theme? This course of study made sense,Continue reading “Why are children’s museums museums?”
Jobs at the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum: Education Manager
As mentioned in a recent post, I am currently hiring full-time staff for the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum. The job description for the Education Manager can now be found here (scroll down to find it) and at the end of this post. It’s an interesting experience to be hiring someone else to do the job I held (in oneContinue reading “Jobs at the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum: Education Manager”
What is the role of research in museums’ K-12 programming?
This guest post is from Michelle Grohe. For the past ten years Michelle has been the Director of School & Teacher Programs at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, where she has overseen the School Partnership, an intensive multiple-experience program with local Boston schools, including in-depth professional development with classroom teachers. Michelle hasContinue reading “What is the role of research in museums’ K-12 programming? “
Jobs at the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum
I will be hiring two full-time staff members to work with me at the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum. We have posted the first job description, for an Operations Manager, and you can see the posting here (scroll down – at the time I am writing this blog, the position is the third one down). The fullContinue reading “Jobs at the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum”
Schools and Museums: Can Museums Teach Content to School Groups?
A few people have responded to my recent post Goals for Students to suggest that history museums are likely to focus on content rather than more general skills and understandings (see Anne Dealy’s comment on Goals for Students; others have responded privately). The implication is that school visitors to history museums expect are more likely to expectContinue reading “Schools and Museums: Can Museums Teach Content to School Groups?”
Museum Questions 